Competition news

THE END AND CHANGES FOR SOME LEAGUES

11 May 2020The leagues that depend on the RFEF have ended the season 2019/20. Since there are no relegations, big changes are planned for future campaigns.

On Friday, the RFEF announced that all the no-professional leagues are canceling their season 2019/20. This means Liga Iberdrola, Segunda División B, Tercera División, the lower leagues and the Juvenile tournaments. There won’t be relegations, but there will be promotions. The increase in the number of teams for next season will move the RFEF to make big changes. The following is an explanation of what will happen.

LIGA IBERDROLAFC Barcelona have been declared as the champions. The Catalans and Atlético Madrid are qualified for the next Champions League. Depor Ladies are ending fourth, while Valencia CF and RCD Espanyol are miraculously saved as there are no relegations. This has caused protests as both clubs have big budgets and will have more chances to fight for salvation on next season. And next season will see the number of teams increased to 18 as SD Eibar and Santa Teresa have been promoted. Next campaign four teams will suffer the demotion instead of two.

SEGUNDA BThere will be a playoff round in order to decide who is promoted to Segunda A. In order to avoid long-distance travels the first round of the playoff will be played among the first four places of each one of the four groups in the league. The four winners will play later a final in order to decide two promotions. The other two promotion slots will come from a second round disputed between the losers of the finals plus the 12 teams eliminated in the first round. Since there are no demotions, next season the league will have 100 teams and the RFEF will have five groups instead of four.

INTERMEDIATE LEAGUEThe season 2021/22 will see the debut of a new tier in Spanish football, this will be located between Segunda A and Segunda B. This new tournament will be composed by 40 teams divided in two groups of 20. The RFEF didn’t inform how these slots will be decided, but probably the participants will be the top 40 teams at Segunda B during the season 2020/21 that fail to conquer the promotion to Segunda A.

TERCERA DIVISIÓNTwenty teams will be promoted to Segunda B during the summer. The 18 groups will play a playoff stage of two rounds among the first four places at each group and the winner will get a ticket. Other two promotion slots will be given by the RFEF by invitation and will be for champions in the group stage that are eliminated in the playoff. The Galician group will see .SD Compostela, Ourense CF, Arosa FC and CD Barco disputing the promotion ticket. Fabril were seventh at the standings after the 27 matchdays that were disputed, so their season is already over.

PRIMERA NACIONAL FEMENINAThere will be a playoff in order to decide the promotions to the second tier (Reto Iberdrola), but Depor Ladies are out after ending fifth at the standings. The RFEF didn’t clarify the format for next season.

JUVENILESThe first place in each one of the seven groups at División de Honor is automatically crowned as champions and the Copa del Rey will be suspended (always played when the season is over). The team that will play the UEFA Youth League is RC Celta as they had the best average of points. Deportivo Juvenil A ended third at group one. Next season, and since there are no relegations, the number of participants in each group will be increased to 18 or 20. The RFEF didn’t clarified it, but it’s expected that there will be more demoted teams on the season 2020/21.